The Trials of Being a Potter
by Lady Lilia
Summary: Lily Potter always had a mischievous side to her. Especially when it came to annoying her brothers. Lily was an expert. And when she came to Hogwarts she discovered the perfect way to get on their nerves: Scorpius Malfoy.
1. The Hogwarts Express

Disclaimer: All the Harry Potter stuff isn't really mine. In actuality its JKR's. Surprising isn't it?

Looking at James it was easy to tell he was a Weasley. And looking at Albus it was obvious he was a Potter. But Lily was different. Unlike James and Albus, Lily wasn't a little carbon copy of either of her parents. She was truly a mix between both of them.

Lily may not have had Weasley – red hair, but she did have red hair. In the sun, the rays would reflect off her dark hair, gracing it with a shiny orange look. And in the snow, Lily's hair contrasted quite drastically, leaving a dark red glow on the white covering. From one angle, it might look like Lily had jet black hair. From a different angle, Lily's hair was clearly red. In actuality Lily's hair was neither shade. It was a dark red: a chestnut red.

Her smile was Harry's. Her laugh was Ginny's. Her chin was Harry's. Her nose was Ginny's. But Lily's eyes didn't belong to Ginny or to Harry. They were her eyes, solely hers.

Just like her hair, Lily's eyes were a mix between her mothers and her father's. It was James who inherited her mother's brown, almond shape eyes; Albus got Harry's large, bottle green eyes. Lily was, as usual, different. Lily's eyes were a lovely almond shape, just like James and Ginny's, but with the size of Harry's green eyes.

Those green eyes; Lily had always been jealous of Albus' lovely eyes. Al wasn't particularly fond Lily's word choice. Lovely wasn't a very manly term. But he still found ways to use his eyes to his advantage, at least when concerning Lily. Al read all of James' textbooks during James' first summer home from Hogwarts. He'd convinced Lily he'd found a spell that he could use to trade eye color with her. She'd done his share of degnomeing the garden for a month. Of course, the spell wasn't real.

Lily went crying to her father for the first time since she was three. She'd wanted to have those pretty, green eyes even if only for a minute. It was then Harry saw the true beauty behind his daughter's eyes. They could hold be full of mirth and grief at the same time. They could hold a secret and reveal the truth all at once. Lily's eyes were a mystery and a beauty. They were Ginny's brown eyes, but a part of Harry could be seen in them too. A part of him was visible in the little, bottle green specks.

If James and Albus were girls it could easily be said that Lily was the prettiest of the three. And with a name like Lily how could she not be? But James and Albus were not girls, and, therefore, their beauty couldn't be compared to Lily's.

People always told Lily what a pretty child she was. But all children are called pretty, and all young girls are called beautiful.

Lily would do anything to annoy her older brothers. They'd gotten to her so much over her childhood that she needed the chance to get them back. She wasn't a crazed, vengeful freak. She was just a prankster, a talent she'd inherited from her Uncle George.

When Lily finally got to Hogwarts, it was much easier for her to annoy her brothers. Lily quickly discovered the easiest and most effective way of getting on their nerves. It was at the moment she discovered this method that she discovered having older, overprotective brothers wasn't entirely a curse.

Quickly may be an over exaggeration of the timing of which Lily discovered the most effective way of annoying her brothers. She discovered how on her very first Hogwarts train ride.

She was sitting alone in a compartment. Lily liked the quiet, family free environment. Sadly her solitude was interrupted. She knew who the blond boy with the sharp features was immediately. Her brothers had warned her about him. But Lily never listened to her brothers. Perhaps that's why she so easily took a liking to this boy.

He opened the door and took a seat, not asking, just sitting. He pulled out a book, and like she, read.

Lily could hear him fidgeting from the opposite end of the compartment. She couldn't fathom a reason for it. He was a third year. I was she who should have been fidgeting. He soon broke the silence.

"You look familiar don't you?" his attention wasn't even on the novel in his lap anymore.

Lily responded without looking up from her book, "I might have seen my face in the Daily Prophet once or twice." Lily could always be trusted to have a witty comeback.

"Oh," was all she heard in response. Even the fidgeting stopped.

In response to the silence Lily finally looked up. "What is it?" she asked, truly curious. Her full attention was focused on him now.

"Well," he started. "You're a Potter." It seemed to be his final explanation for his awkwardness around her. Lily wouldn't accept it.

"I know that," she stated. "And you're a Malfoy. It doesn't mean much."

A stiff silence followed in which the tension in the room could be cut with a knife. Finally, Scorpius spoke, "It does matter."

Lily furrowed her eyebrow, not in confusion however, in disapproval. "I don't think it does."

Scorpius raised _his_eyebrows. "Have you ever even been outside? Prejudices are all around. A Potter can't talk to a Malfoy. A Slytherin can't talk to a Gryffindor." Lily was tempted to point out she hadn't been sorted yet, but sensing the bitterness in Scorpius' voice she decided against it. Instead, she began formulating a revenge plan in her mischievous mind. One that she knew he wouldn't refuse to go along with.

"It would annoy them wouldn't?" she asked, a smirk appearing on her face.

"Who?"

Lily gave him a look that gave it away, "My brothers."

"Oh, well. I suppose it would."

"Well then," Lily began, rubbing her hands together maliciously. "I think we should try it."

Scorpius looked at her skeptically. "You want to talk to _me_ to annoy _your_brothers."

Lily didn't reply. She simply got out of her seat, grabbed his hand and pulled him up. As they made their way out of the compartment he asked, "Where are you taking me?"

A few compartments down she stopped. They'd been traveling so quickly before that he didn't have enough time to stop the momentum. He ran into her and knocked her down. They didn't fall quietly.

The compartment door opened and out stepped James Potter. Scorpius scrambled up immediately, an action which Lily did not fail to notice.

"Get your hands off my sister you git," He pushed through the few people crowding the compartment entrance to reach his sister. When he finally got to her Scorpius was already standing. James grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her behind him protectively.

"What did you do to my sister?" he demanded.

Scorpius was taken aback. For once, he did not do anything intentional to get on James' Potter's nerves and yet Potter was still standing in front of him.

Scorpius bit his lip and began to tell a story, "I, umm, I…"

Lily interrupted, "It was my fault."

James knitted his eyebrows and shook his head, "No it wasn't. Don't feel threatened by him."

Lily struggled to pull free from her grip. "James if I'm not afraid of you, why would I be afraid of him?" she was now standing in front of James staring straight into his face.

"Lily," Scorpius warned. James sent a death glare at him.

"I ran into him James. He was just walking and I ran into him," she stated. "It's my fault."

James didn't respond. He just stood there looking at Scorpius with threatening eyes.

"Well," Lily prompted.

"What?" James growled.

"Apologize," she demanded. Both James and Scorpius were surprised to hear her say this.

"Lily," James complained.

"Apologize. You accused him of something he didn't do. It's only fair you apologize." He snorted in contempt.

James shuffled towards Scorpius, and without lifting his head muttered, "I'm sorry."

"What was that James?" Lily asked, a wicked smile playing on her soft features. "I don't think we could hear you."

Out of the corner of his eye James glared at her. "I'm sorry," he said, this time loud enough for human ears.

Lily smiled satisfied. "Well now that we all know James isn't mute I think we should all go change into our robes. Well be arriving soon I think." And she walked away leaving James in fury.

Scorpius waited until James returned to his compartment to follow Lily back to theirs. He slammed open their compartment door, "You planned that."

Lily laughed. "I know," she said cheerily. When he just stood there she explained, "I thought you liked annoying my brothers."

Scorpius made a face quite similar to the one James was wearing earlier.

"Okay, okay." Lily surrendered. "You don't have to bother them if you don't want to. But they're my brothers and it's my job." It was a fact, not an opinion, a fact.

Scorpius took a seat silently. And a minute passed. Then two. Soon hours seemed to have passed. Finally his voice was heard, "I'll help."

Lily smiled triumphantly. She'd known he was going to give in.


	2. Quidditch

The sorting hat had placed Lily in Gryffindor, as was expected. And it was right to do so, Lily certainly belonged in Gryffindor. She befriended a Slytherin. In hundreds of years, no Gryffindor had found the courage to befriend a Slytherin. But Lily did. And without a second thought, she became the friend of Scorpius Malfoy.

They weren't full time friends. It would have been near impossible for them to be full time friends. Lily didn't have any of her classes with him as he was two years above her. And, just like him, she had her own friends.

At first, the only reason Scorpius and Lily were even friends was to annoy Lily's brothers. But after two and half years of pranking together, they grew close. Lily began to trust him, and he began to trust her.

As a child, Lily was always underestimated. Well, maybe not quite that. She was however, always outshined by her older brothers. James was the comedic one of the Potter children. He was the troublemaker, the laugh, the relaxed one. People immediately liked James after meeting him. He was always easy to get along with. James was never alone. There was always some group of people crowded around him laughing at his jokes.

Albus was the opposite. He had a brilliant mind. Albus could find the solution to any problem. Where James was the troublemaker, Albus was the peacemaker. He would think before taking action. Never a teacher's pet, but always first in a teacher's mind Albus was the ideal student. Even still, Albus wasn't too serious. His brilliance came naturally so he didn't have to work for it. Like James, people liked Albus for his carefree aura. And Albus had always been a brilliant conversationalist.

Then there was Lily. She didn't have any particular outstanding quality. She wasn't as funny as James or as brilliant as Albus. Everything she was good at Albus and James were better. She may have been a great seeker, but James and Albus were extraordinary keepers. She may have been good for a laugh, but James was always the one people turned to. She may have been able to answer some of your questions, but Albus could answer more.

Lily wasn't that easy to get along with either, not with her temper. James may have inherited the famous Weasley red hair, but Lily inherited the famous Weasley temper. At the smallest insult Lily's temper would flare. She would hold a grudge for more time than reasonable. But despite all of this, she was an optimist.

But that was it. That's all she had. She had her temper and her optimism. She didn't shine like her brothers. She was the difficult Potter, the one no one bothered to deal with or pay any special attention to. She was the Potter always forced into the shadows while the other two shone in the limelight.

Perhaps that's why Lily turned to Scorpius Malfoy. Theirs wasn't an expected friendship, or even an understandable one. It was haphazard, out of place, and slightly uncharacteristic. But they each had a reason for befriending the other.

Scorpius had been taken with Lily from their very introduction. She hadn't judged him, not even after he'd drawn a line between them that had been centuries long. She crossed that line without a second thought, defying eras of prejudice. To Lily the fact that she was a Potter and he was a Malfoy didn't make any difference. From the start she refused to see him as his father's son. Around her he was just Scorpius. He wasn't a Malfoy; he wasn't a Slytherin or even a pureblood.

Lily hadn't seen him that way. To her he was just another person to befriend, another friend to talk to. He liked being nothing more than Scorpius. With her he had nothing to live up to. Lily never pressured him. She never expected him to be one way or another. She just liked Scorpius as himself.

And Scorpius liked her too. That could be why she befriended him: because he like her and not her brothers, because with him she was in the spotlight. He could listen to her hour long rants and still take in every word. He could tolerate her temper. And his cynicism complimented her optimism. He balanced her out, kept her from being too perky or temperamental.

But they hadn't realized why they liked each other right away. They hadn't even really gotten to know each other until her second year and his fourth. It was just after her first Quidditch match as seeker. She'd played chaser the year before, much to her disappointment. Her brothers may have liked the position, but she took after her father. Lily's favorite position was seeker.

Gryffindor's first match of the season was against Slytherin, against Scorpius. Like Lily he was a seeker too. They were well matched, each had as much skill as the other. The game ended when Lily caught the snitch, but just barely. He hadn't been too far behind her.

She grew suspicious. It was impossible for her to fathom how she, a first year seeker, could have caught it before Scorpius did. He had been on his house team for two years. It was only her first match. Immediately she decided he let her catch it. She was furious

"Lily," Scorpius called, looking for her after her after the match. He was heading to congratulate her for winning, but she didn't want to hear it. He spotted her. "Lily," he called again. She kept walking, heading away from the fields and towards the lake. He caught up with her. "Lily," he called again, this time hesitantly.

She whirled around on her heels and stared at him, enraged. He was taken aback. She had no reason to be angry, she had just caught the snitch. "You let me win." She accused. It wasn't a thanks, it was blame. She was blaming him.

"Lily, no.." Scorpius explained, but she cut him off.

"How could you do that?"" she screeched, arms flailing in the air. "How could you let me win?"

Scorpius grabbed one of her arms in attempt to calm her. "Lily, I didn't let you win."

But Lily wasn't listening. She was ranting on, trying to pull away from his grasp. "You knew the snitch was there. You saw, before I did! I don't get it. You just let me win. You let me get the snitch. I can't believe you, you insolent prick! You let me win…"

Any explanation Scorpius tried to put in was drowned out by Lily's rant.

"And everybody saw it! Now they know that you just let me win! Now they all know I'm not actually good enough." Lily stopped struggling, but continued ranting. "This was my moment; my moment to prove that I can play and you let me win." A tear fell from her eye. She was truly upset.

Scorpius stopped protesting to comfort Lily. He let go of her arm and pulled her into a hug. She cried into his shoulder. He wanted to tell her he didn't let her win, but knew better. If he started to talk about it she would just get more upset and start ranting again.

She collapsed, falling to the ground, tears pouring from the corners of her eyes. He sat down with her, just being there for her. Neither said a word, but in that silent moment they grew to understand each other for the first time.

Scorpius understood Lily needed someone to respect _her _and care about _her. _Lily understood Scorpius' need to feel be himself, she understood his desire to escape for the pressure. He didn't want to impress anyone, he just wanted to feel himself. She could let him do that. He could genuinely care about _her_ and not her brothers. They'd be there for each other. And in that moment, without saying a word, they vowed to be there for each other, without judgment, without pride, and without fear.


End file.
